Principles and Applications of 9.

1 Electrical Conduction in Semiconductor

Electrical Engineering Devices
Sixth Edition
• Semiconductors
Chapter 9 – Elements with conductivity between
conductors and insulators
– Examples: silicon and germanium
Semiconductors and Diodes – Outer band electrons held by covalent bonds
• Stronger electric fields needed to liberate them
– Free electrons enable current flow in a
semiconductor
– Conductivity increases with temperature
Rܑ‫ זܑܖܗܢܢ‬Kearns © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 2

Electrical Conduction in Semiconductor Electrical Conduction in Semiconductor

Devices (cont’d.) Devices (cont’d.)
• When free electron is • Doping
liberated: – Pure semiconductors not good conductors
– Corresponding net positive – Impurities added to crystalline structure of
charge (hole) is created semiconductor
• Holes act as positive • Boron and gallium (acceptors) add holes
charge carriers • Phosphorus and arsenic (donors) add electrons

– Do not move around as • n-type semiconductors

easily as free electrons – Free electrons: majority charge carrier
– Holes: minority charge carrier

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 3 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 4
 Electrical Conduction in Semiconductor 9.2 The pn Junction and the
Devices (cont’d.) Semiconductor Diode
• p-type semiconductors • Diode formed by sections of n- and p-type
– Holes: majority charge carrier material
– Free electrons: minority charge carrier • Net charge separation due to the depletion
region produces an electric field

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 5 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 6

The pn Junction and the Semiconductor The pn Junction and the Semiconductor
Diode (cont’d.) Diode (cont’d.)
• Diffusion current associated with majority • Reverse bias orientation of
charge carriers directed from left to right the battery shown
– Drift current associated with minority charge – Widens depletion region
carriers runs in opposite direction • Decreases majority carrier
diffusion current
• Increases minority carrier drift
current
• Reverse bias diode current

IS is reverse saturation current

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 7 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 8
 The pn Junction and the Semiconductor The pn Junction and the Semiconductor
Diode (cont’d.) Diode (cont’d.)
• Net diode current under forward bias • Ability of pn junction to conduct significant
current only in forward biased direction
– Allows function like a check valve

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 9 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 10

9.3 Large-Signal Models for the Large-Signal Models for the

Semiconductor Diode Semiconductor Diode (cont’d.)
• Large-signal models • Method for diode circuit analysis
– Describe gross behavior in the presence of – Test all possible combinations of forward- and
large voltages or currents reverse-biased assumptions for the diodes
• Ideal diode model • Find set of assumptions that does not result in a
contradiction
– Simple on/off device

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 11 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 12
 9.4 Small-Signal Models for the
Offset Diode Model
Semiconductor Diode
• Model that accounts for offset diode • Small signal behavior
voltage – Diode response to small time-varying signals
• Consists of an ideal diode in series with a superimposed on the average diode current
battery and voltage

– Battery voltage equals the offset voltage • Load line analysis used to determine
diode’s small signal resistance

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 13 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 14

Determining the Operating Point of a

Piecewise Linear Diode Model
Diode
• Diode treated as open circuit in the “off” • Reduce the circuit to a Thévenin or Norton
state equivalent circuit with the diode as the
– As a linear resistor in series with a battery load
value in “on” state • Determine the load line
• Solve numerically two simultaneous
equations (load line and diode equations)
for diode current and voltage
– Or solve graphically by finding the intersection
of diode curve with load line curve
• Intersection is the diode operating point Q
© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 15 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 16
 9.5 Rectifier Circuits Half-Wave Rectifier

• Rectification • Input has zero average DC value

– Important part of process of converting AC to – Rectified output voltage has nonzero average
DC DC value
• Half-wave rectifier
– Diode will conduct only when forward-biased
• Occurs during positive half-cycle of sinusoidal
voltage

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 17 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 18

Full-Wave Rectifier Full-Wave Rectifier (cont’d.)

• Transformer used to step up or step down • As the sign of vS periodically alternates

primary voltage prior to rectification between positive and negative:
– Transformer also isolates rectifier circuit from – The two diodes alternate in turns between
AC source voltage forward- and reverse-biased states
• Direction of io is always positive

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 19 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 20
 Full-Wave Rectifier (cont’d.) The Bridge Rectifier

• Output voltage is exactly the superposition • Uses four diodes

of the output of two half-wave rectifiers
180◦ out of phase
– DC output is twice that of the half-wave
rectifier

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 21 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 22

The Bridge Rectifier (cont’d.) DC Power Supplies

• No portion of the rectified output is • Steps to convert AC input to practical DC

negative output
– Even when offset voltage is taken into – Scale amplitude of AC input waveform
account – Rectify the scaled waveform
– Filter the output waveform to remove
remaining AC components known as ripple
– Regulate the filtered DC output voltage to
maintain desired DC value for a range of
loads

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 23 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 24
 9.6 Zener Diodes and Voltage Regulation Zener Diodes (cont’d.)

• Zener diode
– Most common device in voltage regulation
– Intended to be used when reverse-biased

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 25 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 26

Zener Diodes (cont’d.) 9.7 Signal Processing Applications

• The load voltage must equal VZ as long as • Diode clipper (limiter)

Zener diode is in reverse-breakdown – Protects load against excessive voltages
mode

• The output current is nearly constant

• The source current is given by:

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 27 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 28
 Diode Clipper (Limiter) The Diode Clamp

• Reduce circuit to its Thévenin equivalent

• Analyze for two cases
– Ideal diode model
– Piecewise linear diode model

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 29 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 30

The Diode Peak Detector 9.8 Photodiodes

• Similar to the half-wave rectifier with • Photodiodes respond to light energy

capacitive filtering – When light reaches the depletion region of a
• Classic application pn junction, photons cause hole-electron pairs
to be generated by photoionization
– Demodulation of amplitude-modulated (AM)
signals – Reverse saturation current depends on the
light intensity
• In addition to other factors
• Light emitting diodes (LEDs)
– Emit light when forward-biased

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 31 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 32
 Photodiodes (cont’d.) LED Materials and Wavelengths

© 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 33 © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. 34